A number of optical disc holders or storage devices are known. Most commonly, CDs and DVDs are made available in retail acrylic boxes, retail cardboard or heavy paper packages, or employed with after market sleeve cases. These approaches have a number of deficiencies including relatively high expense and complexity. Considerable effort often must be expended by a user to remove a disc for playing. Furthermore, some of these devices are prone to breakage and take up considerable storage space.
A number of less conventional holders for compact discs, DVDs and the like also exist for the purpose of affording disc protection and for holding a disc. The following patents and patent application publications disclose less conventional optical disc holders and containers believed to be representative of the current state of the prior art in this field: U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. US 2004/0107432, pub. date Jun. 3, 2004, U.S. Pat. No. 6,860,388, issued Mar. 1, 2005, U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,191, issued Sep. 26, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,186, issued Mar. 29, 1994, U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. U.S.2002/0157975, pub. date Oct. 31, 2002, U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,526, issued May 27, 2003, U.S. Pat. No. 6,077,583, issued Jun. 20, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,363, issued May 8, 2001, U.S. Pat. No. 6,749,061, issued Jun. 15, 2004, U.S. Pat. No. 6,896,132, issued May 24, 2005, U.S. Pat. No. 5,757,765, issued May 26, 1998, U.S. Design Pat. No. D447,663, issued Sep. 11, 2001, U.S. Design Pat. No. D408,202, issued Apr. 20, 1999 and U.S. Design Pat. No. D493,300, issued Jul. 27, 2004.